Industrious high school senior, Vee Delmonico [Emma Roberts], has had it with living life on the sidelines. When pressured by friends to join the popular online game Nerve, Vee decides to sign up for just one dare in what seems like harmless fun. But as she finds herself caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition partnered with a mysterious stranger [Dave Franco], the game begins to take a sinister turn with increasingly dangerous acts, leading her into a high stakes finale that will determine her entire future.

Everything is about social media these days. I’m convinced that social media is the best and the worst thing to happen to us in a long time. Everyone wants to be connected, but some people don’t know how to behave. Enter this week’s super timely movie, Nerve, to highlight the best and worst of social media.

Nerve is a fun and cautionary tale about people going too far for “insta-fame.” It’s all about how many followers everyone has, and what they are willing to do to get more of them. It’s a too-real Truth or Dar game without the truth part. The willingness to do crazy stunts is misclassified as “nerve,” when I would call it stupidity, but it is still exciting to watch. I enjoyed the young cast of characters. I appreciated the enthusiasm. Emma Roberts (Vee) and Dave Franco (Ian) bring a ton of energy to their roles and present different sides of the social media paradigm. He’s all in. She isn’t all in. And away we go. The entire cast was great.

I enjoyed the action of the film. Some of the dares are genuinely ill-conceived, but in the safety of the movie theater, I was drawn into the action. Some of the camera work was annoying. I am over the shaky camera effects, but since the film is based on social media, I can understand it.

I think the most important facet of Nerve was the message. I think it’s great for a younger audience. I appreciated that the film draws the audience with this too fun to be good idea of an internet game that everyone can watch. At first it all seemed like good funs. Quickly, the entire thing descended. Just before the Nerve reached the threshold of irresponsibility, the film began highlighting many of the dangers of the Internet, social media and the game the teens were playing. The themes are far from being preachy. I am going to show the film to my tweens as a cautionary tale about the Internet.

I loved the theater experience for Nerve. The soundtrack is awesome and energetic. I also appreciated the immersion of theater experience in as much as it pertained to the dares. Some of the dares had me clutching the movie theater armrests because I felt connected to the screen. The entire movie was a fun time. Something great for the teens to see before the start of a new school year. It’s also good Summer movie to enjoy with a bucket of popcorn. But don’t take my word for it,Nerve is playing at a theater near you now.